Rayven’s Library

There are a few house keeping rules that I want to get out of the way prior to getting into the post! Those are:

—No racism, classism, ageism, sexism, homophobia, or any other kind of irrational exclusionary behaviors/beliefs will be tolerated.

—Please do not try to convert me or anyone else who interacts with my posts to any other religion against their will.

—Do not fear monger.

—Be respectful.

—Have an open mind to learn.

With that being said, let’s get into this!

My name is Rayven, I am an adult; and I am studying to be a librarian. Aside from that, I work full time in the medical field. I love to draw, read, and write in the very small amount of spare time that I have in a day!

I want my page to be as good of a resource for all witches/practitioners as it can be; so I will be citing all sources used to make my posts! I feel that citing sources is super important because why would/should you take my word for anything? I can tell you that the sky is blue, but if you’ve never seen or heard of it before; how would you know that I’m not deceiving you without properly sourced/referenced images?

That’s just my thought process though.

My craft is eclectically built, to say the least! I’ll get into it in more depth in another post, but I’ll tell you now that it’s mainly a mix of Roman paganism & Polish Folk Magic!

If there are ever any questions or concerns about anything that I posted/mentioned; please bring them to my attention!! I am human too, mistakes happen! I promise I won’t be offended if you correct me, if anything I’ll be thankful!!

Neptuno, deo maris — To Neptune, the God of the sea

When departing from land and getting onto a boat or something similar:

Dii terrae marisque, et potentum tempestatum, nos aura leni ferunt et ventum prosperum sequendum afflant. — The gods of earth and sea, and of mighty storms, carry us with gentle breezes and urge us to follow a favorable wind.

When returning from said boat:

Gratias ago Neptuno patrono meo, qui in salso piscibus abundans mari habitat, quod me domum e sacra sede sua, bene onustum et hora bona, reduxit. — I thank my patron Neptune, who lives in the salty sea abounding in fish, for bringing me home from his sacred seat, well laden and at a good hour.

By the end of this post, I’ve aimed to guide readers to the answers of the following questions:

—what is a sigil

—who can make sigils

—should you make sigils

Should there be any gaps in your understanding, or if there are general questions about anything that I covered in this post; comment or send an ask to the ask box! I’ll do my best to answer in a timely manner.

So, what is a sigil? To some, a sigil, or truly all sigils, look like complicatedly scribbled images. Sometimes these images are in the form of basic shapes, and other times they’re simply not. But what is it exactly?

Expertly but still concisely put, “a sigil is a symbol formed from a sentence or phrase.” This is what Yunan L. Kirkbride noted in her Spring of 2017 article “A Symbolic Story.” She also goes on to say that the sentence or phrase must contain the practitioner’s intent. Then, in my words a sigil is that a sigil is any image formed from an intentional phrase or statement. For me, logos would also be considered sigils. I know for some this does not sound realistic, or true at all. This leads me to my next question to be answered; who can make a sigil?

In my opinion, any living being with access to pen and paper, along with the capacity and/or capability to doodle, can make sigils. Yes, this includes corporate professionals. Though, that may be a discussion for a different time!

Sigils, again in my opinion, aren’t necessarily “meant” to be beautiful, extravagant, flashy, etc. for the most part; a sigil is just meant to be subtly, or subconsciously remembered. It isn’t about how large or small, or what materials were used to make them; it’s just that they need to be remembered somehow.

Now, should you specifically make a sigil? If you want to make one—then you should make one. If not, then they may not be important to your path or practice. Which is completely understandable and perfectly fine! Though, if you do end up making a sigil; sometimes the process can get a little addicting(speaking from my experience), and you might end up with a lot of them in a short amount of time.

If that is to happen, I recommend storing the abundance of sigils in a folder or notebook, I personally keep mine in a binder that I’ve dubbed my “Sigil Dictionary,” it serves me quite well!

To reiterate the introduction, if you have any further questions; please feel free to ask! I love answering questions. Have a lovely day, you deserve it!

My reference(s) that were used: